The Imperial Bursary explained

What is the Imperial Bursary?

The Imperial Bursary scheme provides support on a sliding scale for Home undergraduate students with annual household incomes of up to £60,000. This is much higher than the UK Government threshold for financial support (£42,875 for 2017 entry). The Government threshold is also the level at which most other UK universities cap their support.

The Imperial Bursary:

is available for each year of your course (as long as your annual household income remains under £60,000)

does not distinguish between students living at home and students living away from home

may be revised each academic year to take into account changes to your household income

The Imperial Bursary is not available for:

repeat years of study

graduate entry

medical students who intercalate in their 5th and 6th year

overseas students

EU students

Students with a year abroad will be eligible for only 15% of the Imperial Bursary in that year and students with a year in industry will be assessed on a case by case basis.

Students undertaking an intercalating year at Imperial will be eligible for the bursary rate of the cohort that they started at their home university

How much is it worth?

The Imperial Bursary amounts vary for each admission year so please check the relevant amounts below for the year that you started your degree or will start.

Terms and conditions

IB eligibility and application details

How do I apply

There is no formal application procedure and no separate application form.

We award Imperial Bursaries based on household income assessments done by relevant government funding bodies i.e. Student Finance England, Student Finance Northern Ireland, Student Awards Agency for Scotland and Student Finance Wales. This is why only Home students who have applied for government funding are eligible for the scheme.

When applying for government funding both you and your parents must consent to sharing the financial information you provide on your funding application; this will allow us to access your information and determine your eligibility for funding from Imperial.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) is responsible for paying grants and loans on behalf of the Government once you’ve applied through your funding authority. Once SLC confirms your funding entitlement to us, we will email you to confirm the bursary amount that you will receive from Imperial, normally after the release of A Level results.

Is there a deadline?

To make sure that as many people as possible benefit from the Imperial Bursary, the deadline by which we must receive your household income information from SLC is 1 May after the start of the academic year (e.g. we must receive this information by 1 May 2015 for students starting in October 2014).

The earlier you apply for funding (we advise you to apply as soon as possible), the earlier we will be able to confirm what support you will be eligible for.

Payment details

Imperial Bursaries are normally paid directly into your bank account. If you however wish to use your Imperial Bursary as an Accommodation or Tuition Fee Waiver, you can request this option when you receive your award letter.

All cash bursary payments are dependent on confirmation of your household income from Student Loans Company.

You should provide your bank details securely through the ‘Student Funding’ tab in your Student e-Service portal. This can be done as part of registration.

Bursaries will be paid in instalments from 7 November until 7 June each year.

Bursaries of £1,200 or less will be paid in one instalment on 7 November or the 7th of the month following registration if this is later.

Bursaries of more than £1,200 will be paid in equal monthly instalments from 7 November or the 7th of the month following registration (if this is later) until 7 June.

6 Year Medical students

Students who are studying on the 6 year MBBS programme can choose to receive their Imperial Bursary payments in different ways. Please review the MBBS payment options 6 Year MBBS Payment options webpage for more information.

Care Leavers & Estrangement

Care leavers and estranged students who are in a receipt of an Imperial Bursary will be offered the chance to receive their Bursary two months earlier than the usual first payment date of 7 November 2017.